English Listening: A Patient in the Hospital | Episode 05

Listen to a story about visiting my aunt in the hospital after she had a stroke.

You’ll also learn how to hear and make the reduced form of the conjunction “and.”

Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!

Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell a real world story. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.

You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. It sounds funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower. After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.

THE STORY

Last week my parents and I went to visit my aunt in the hospital. About 2 ½ weeks ago she had a hemorrhagic stroke. It’s a stroke that occurs when one of the arteries leading to the brain suddenly tears or bursts. She lives by herself, so it was pretty frightening for her. The entire left side of her body was suddenly paralyzed. She immediately called 911, and the ambulance came to her house and took her to the hospital. Her local hospital didn’t have all the necessary equipment to diagnose a stroke, so a couple days later she was transferred to a hospital in a larger city.

I really dislike hospitals. They’re full of sick people and I feel like I’m suddenly going to catch an illness just by setting foot in a hospital. I know it’s crazy but I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels like that.

Being in the hospital has been a horrible experience for my aunt. She is in a room with 2 other stroke patients who are in far worse condition than she is. One lady can’t speak so she just makes noises all day. Another lady is completely paralyzed on the right side of her body. She says terrible things to my aunt like, “I’m praying to God that something bad will happen to you.” To escape her room my aunt sometimes goes to the TV lounge, but once, a strange man tried to hit on her. Can you imagine hitting on someone after they just had a stroke? That’s a bit weird.

My aunt has almost fully recovered from the stroke now. She goes to therapy every day and she has regained the feeling in her left arm and leg. She can walk up and down the stairs by herself and she’s regained her balance. She doesn’t want to be in the hospital anymore and finds it very stressful, but she calmed down while we were there. We sat outside in a park in front of the hospital for the afternoon. We ate lunch, and talked & laughed for 2 hours. She felt much better.

Note:Health care in Canada is provided by the government, specifically the provincial governments. (A province is similar to a state in the U.S.) We have no access to private health care; we have to take what the government provides. When I talk about hospitals, I’m talking specifically about hospitals in my province, Ontario. Hospitals and health care may be different in other provinces.

PRONUNCIATION TIP

Listen carefully to some groups of words from the story:

my parents and I

2 ½ = two and a half

walk up and down

her left arm and leg

Did you hear the word and in those phrases?

The word and is a conjunction. It’s a function word. It has to be in the sentence for the sentence to be grammatically correct, but it’s not an important word. In spoken English, it’s reduced and pronounced /ən/.

Listen again:
I didn’t say “my parents and I” I said “my parents /ən/ I”
I didn’t say “walk up and down” I said “walk up /ən/ down”

Here are some more examples of the reduced form of ‘and.’ They weren’t in the story, but they are common phrases.

Listen, and repeat after me:

rock and roll / rock’n’roll
boys and girls
night and day
black and white
open and close

Listen to the story again. Can you hear more examples of the reduced and?

Comments

I have been at hospitals< they have done exams to me and ive been there waitng for the results .
In my country their are nice and horrible hospitals, the nica ones are very moderned ,ive been there and you are always well attended but in others , you find terrible things starting with the smell, the neatness, etc.

In My Country Indonesia, the government doesn’t provide health care. the people must take care their health themselves. the hospital is just like a commercial place. if you have no money (in other word, poor people) you can not get in the hospital, the hospital will reject you. they will ask the deposit first. i guess you live in a better country then.

That’s a shame. Can people buy health insurance in Indonesia? Are there charitable clinics or hospitals that will provide free health care?

I think it’s important for a country to have two options: a public health care system (provided by the government) for people who cannot afford health care, and a private health care system for people to choose their own health care.

Once I spent about 6 hours at the hospital because my stomach ached a lot and it was a bit disgusting because there were a lot of sick people and some of them were crying and I felt like I was going to catch a virus because there were some stretchers stained with blood.
In my country public hospitals are very crowded specially in emergency rooms, they are not comfortable at all and they don’t care quickly.
Public hospitals are well equipped but the problem is that there are few doctors for many patients.

Hello Melanie.I hope you aunt will bounce back to good health soon.I have never been a patient in a hospital before ,but I can tell you about the hospitals in my country.They are free as well as the medicines.I hope we won't have to experience that and we will have a good life full of love and joy.Regarding to the lesson today.I would like to thank you and keep up with the good work.

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About Melanie

I help English learners move from the classroom into the real world by teaching you real world sentences and helping you understand natural spoken English. I also help you find the best study tips and training techniques that work for you!

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